


It Had a Blue Cover

by tisfan



Series: Open Ask Prompts [4]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Book Recommendations, Librarian AU, M/M, Single Parents, children need to be read to, children's librarian, reading hour, support your local library
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-22
Updated: 2016-12-22
Packaged: 2018-09-11 01:27:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,903
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8947735
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tisfan/pseuds/tisfan
Summary: librarian / avid reader winteriron AU where bucky is the librarian and tony is avid reader. if you want to make it a little smutty, that's good too. clint is married to natasha who is bucky's older sister. they tease bucky a lot. happy ending.





	

Okay, seriously, the sexy librarian aesthetic wasn’t working for Bucky Barnes _at all_. 

He was missing the whole glasses on a chain and tight sweater thing to start with, and while he kept his hair pulled back in a sloppy bun while he was on shift, he looked more like an out of work poet than a librarian. 

His co-workers, Carol (research) and Jan and Jessica (ordering), as well as Helen and Gwen, who worked the front desk, constantly complained about getting hit on by patrons. Bucky was the only male librarian, even if he wasn’t the only guy who worked at New City; the other men were either shelvers and interns, the cleaning staff or one the two directors. 

“That’s because you’re the children’s librarian, Bucky,” Jan said, patting him on the arm. “If you’d even look twice at any of the single moms who go in there, you’d be up to your eyeballs in available poontang, but men don’t go into the children’s section.” 

“I’m quite certain that some men read,” Bucky responded, rolling his eyes. “And some of them have children who read.” 

“I will personally bake you a four layer cake if you find a single dad who will flirt with an obviously gay children’s librarian.” Jan liked to bake; every year for the library Christmas party, she would bring in a triple-flavored stacked cake that everyone wanted to instagram. She also did seamstressing in her spare time. Bucky wondered when she _had_ spare time, because he worked the same number of hours she did, and he forgot to rotate his fucking laundry so often that sometimes he ran clothes through the washer twice now just on habit, rather than because they’d gotten mildewy. 

“Gonna hold you to that.” 

* * *

 

Covering for Carol was always fun; when fun was a word you used to describe being tortured by library patrons. 

Being a research librarian was so much less “tell me the name of King Richard the Lionheart’s third mistress” and more about “I read this book once… the cover was blue. Do you know what it was?” 

The patron, a short, good-looking guy with a shock of dark hair and a wide smile, was actually a little more helpful than that. He remembered the genre (science fiction)and was pretty sure the author’s name started with an M and that there had been a turtle-alien on the cover. Bucky’d never personally heard of it -- the problem with working in the children’s library was that he spent more time reading Curious George outloud to a group of four-year-olds than he did digging into his enormous to-be-read list. (Yes, yes, librarians didn’t always read everything they meant to, either, shut up, Natasha. Yes, Clint, you can buy me a gift-card to Barnes & Noble if you want, I still won’t read anything by Dan Brown.) 

On the plus side, since the children’s library had shorter hours than the rest of New City, Bucky often got assigned the display table projects. And for this particular customer, he’d actually laid out a really nice display earlier in the month; four tables lined up with popular books, organized by color. He had a good mix of blue books and green books and brown books and red ones, with a couple of scattered orange and yellow books off to the side. There were a decided lack of purple books and Bucky was kinda pissed at that, because the rainbow would have looked nice. 

“Ha,” the patron said, following Bucky over to the display. “That’s pretty sweet layout.” 

“We’ve got some lists here that the interns drew up, other book titles that come in the colors you’re looking for, since table space is limited and these are just the most popular pieces.” 

“Popular is good, too,” the patron said, picking up one of the books with a red cover. _Inkheart._ Bucky had read that one last year. 

“Oh, I liked that,” Bucky said. “Did you know that the writer had Brendan Frazier in mind when she thought up the main character, and that she sent him a copy of the book, which is, eventually, how it ended up becoming a movie?” 

The patron stared at Bucky for a long moment. See, this, this was why they wouldn’t let him out of the children’s library. Bucky was an encyclopedia of useless information that no one cared about. Kids liked it; adults, not so much. “I did not know that, no,” the patron said, softly.

“Yeah, I spent most of last year reading that one out loud to my niece and nephew,” he said. “They’re twelve now, but still not too old for bedtime stories.” 

“Twins?” 

“Yeah,” Bucky said, then felt the need to explain further, “my sister and her husband are in high-travel jobs, so I live in their garage apartment. It’s almost like having my own place, except I babysit a lot.” And _that_ was why he never got dates, because really, living with your sister so she had free babysitting whenever she wanted it was so completely non-sexy that Bucky’d been able to pick up exactly no one in the last two years since Natasha went back to work. (She was in the CIA, which _was_ interesting, but he really wasn’t supposed to talk about it.) 

“Nice,” the patron said. “You think it’s appropriate for a nine-year-old?” 

Bucky nodded. “Yeah, it’s a little wordie, but I keep a dictionary close at hand, too, and make the twins look up words they didn’t understand.” His proudest moments were when Wanda had just held out her hand for the dictionary without whining and looked up ‘incredulous.’ When she’d used it in a sentence the next day, talking to her dad on the phone, Bucky thought he was going to melt into a puddle, right there on the spot. 

The patron tucked _Inkheart_ under his arm. “I’ll let Peter have a whirl with it, then,” he said. 

“Heh,” Bucky said. “My nephew's name is Pietro.” 

“Pete and re-Pete. Sure, that’s cool,” the man said, smiling. Which he really needed to stop doing, because Bucky was having trouble breathing, the man’s grin was that brilliant and engaging. 

“So, blue book, science fiction, author starts with an M,” Bucky said, flipping through the list. “Did you check it out from here? I mean, I can pull up your library records.” 

The man blinked. “You can? I thought that was all off-limits with the FBI thing and whatnot.” 

“Oh, no, we _keep_ those records,” Bucky said, “we just don’t allow the FBI access to them without appropriate court paperwork.” He pointed at a sign over in the corner of the room. “And they haven’t been in our library for over four-hundred days now.” 

The man handed over his library card. “Okay, Mr. Stark, I’ll just --” 

“Tony,” the man said. 

“Tony, then,” Bucky said. “I can just pull this up, do you remember how long ago… oh, wait, here, I see it. Agent of Change, Steve Miller and Sharon Lee.” 

“That’s it,” Tony said, snapping his fingers. “I just really needed the authors’ names, I want to read the next book in the series, I just found out there _was_ a next book.” 

“Well, we have their omnibus on the shelf,” Bucky said, “which has Agent of Change, Conflict of Honors, and Carpe Diem in it. Shall I pull that for you?” 

“That’d be fantastic,” Tony said. 

* * *

 

“Ah, there you are,” Tony said. 

Bucky looked down at himself, just in case he’d become invisible in the last two hours. Nope, still here. “Hey,” he said. 

“Okay, Peter loved _Inkheart_ , so we read the other books in the series,” Tony said. “What else have you got?” 

Bucky chewed his lip. “Um, Wanda really liked Robin McKinley’s _Hero and the Crown_. It does have one brief reference to sexual intercourse -- the heroine tells her friend that she looks forward to getting no sleep whatsoever -- but I’ve found that sort of thing goes right over most kids’ heads until they’re much older.” 

Tony chuckled. “I remember when I looked forward to no sleep whatsoever. Ah well.” 

“Kids getting in the way of having more kids?” It was a common complaint with his brother-in-law, even if Clint was kidding. He hoped Clint was kidding, at any rate, because honestly, as often as he heard his sister having sex, he’d hate to think Clint wasn’t getting _enough_. Or maybe Natasha was just jumping on the bed to aggravate Bucky. She was the sort to do that, sometimes, just to give him something to bitch about over breakfast. 

“Nah, my ex and I split up,” Tony said. “We share custody, but… eh. Haven’t really gotten back out there, into dating just yet.” 

“I hear that,” Bucky said. “I think it’s been… almost two years since the last time I had a date. Shall I pull that book for you?” 

“Please.” 

* * *

 

“You gotta save me. I need something new to read.” 

Bucky drew Tony over to a new display. _Blind date with a book._ Divided by genre, he’d wrapped books in brown paper with color coded ribbons. “Pick something out. They’re less popular books, don’t get a lot of turnover, but each one has been personally recommended by a staff member.” 

“Oh, you’re a wonderful human being, thank you,” Tony said, selecting a book from the science fiction section. 

* * *

 

Wednesday afternoons, from three to four, was story hour for the eight to thirteen year olds. Bucky would read several chapters each week, and the groups pretty solidly settled in. He was just cracking open the newest book, _Pax_ , a book about a boy and his fox, when Tony and his son came in. Despite being for slightly younger children, Wanda and Pietro had adored the book, especially since the main character’s name was Peter. 

Bucky opened the book and started to read; he was popular as the children’s librarian for many reasons, and not the least of which was his ability to bring the printed page to life. He did voices for each of the characters and read with easy rhythm, seldom catching on a sentence or stuttering over a word. The kids loved it. As might have been expected, Tony’s son squirmed with excitement when he realized the book’s character shared the same name. 

When story-hour was over, Bucky marked his place and placed the book in the position of honor on his desk. He updated the chalkboard, which informed patrons of what chapter he was on, and what the next book would be. 

“You’re really good at that,” Tony said, touching Bucky’s shoulder as he walked over. “I wanted you to meet my son, Peter.” 

“You’re dad’s friend the liberrian,” Peter said, his voice gently lisping. “I’m the same name as in the book!” 

“Ah, so your name must be Pax the fox,” Bucky said, and smiled at the laugh that got from Peter. 

“No, I’m Peter, silly,” Peter said. “An’ you’re Mr. Barnes, the liberrian.” 

“Well, I’ll tell you a secret, Peter,” Bucky said, dropping into a catcher’s crouch, which put him just under eye-level with Peter. “My special friends call me Bucky, and since your dad’s such a good patron, you can call me Bucky, if you want to.” 

“What makes him a good patron?” 

“Well, for one thing, he _never_ brings his library books back late,” Bucky said. 

* * *

 

“Yeah, we’re doing a drive for the library,” Bucky said. “The city cut our budget again, and right now we can either keep the computers up and running, or we can continue to have a full time children’s librarian, but not both.” 

“All the books will still be available for checkout, though?” 

“Yes, ma’am,” Bucky said. “The extra programs will be cut, and the --” 

The woman sniffed. “I can get audiobooks on my tablet. My son doesn’t need to be _read_ to. I already pay taxes.” 

Obediah Stane, who was on the city council, had actually been the person who’d started the whole “we need to save money on services” nonsense, which had started when he discovered that there was a gay man serving as the children’s librarian. Of course, Stane wouldn’t come right out and say that Bucky was using his position to groom and cull pediaphilia victims, but he certainly implied the shit out of it, and the director had offered up Bucky’s position to avoid further library budget cuts. They’d probably keep the position empty for six months and then hire two part-timers into it under a different job title. 

The rest of the staff had decided that fundraising was the way to go; Jan and Carol had even offered to take partial pay cuts in order to keep Bucky on the staff. 

“I’m afraid I don’t agree with you, ma’am,” Bucky said. He scanned her books out. It was looking bad; if things didn’t change soon, he was going to be out of work by March. “University of California recently released a study that shows children who’ve been read to consistently academically outperform children who’ve not been read to, across gender, racial and income divides. The best thing you can do for your kids, to get them ahead in school, is read to them.” 

Bucky tucked one of the print-outs into her books; it contained the key points of the study, what services the children’s library provided, and information on donating. Couldn’t hurt. 

* * *

 

Bucky closed the book on the final chapter of _How to Train your Dragon_. Everything from here on out, until they knew for sure if the budget cuts went through, would be short stories. Bucky had picked up an ancient copy of _The Practical Princess and Other Liberating Fairy Tales_ out of the archives, that would tide the group over for a few weeks. Who knew, maybe he could get a discussion of basic feminism 101 going after reading “Stupid Marco.” 

“Heard you met my ex last week,” Tony said, leaning against Bucky’s desk. Peter had run off to the back of the children’s library to play with the model train set. 

“Did I? I don’t recall --” 

“She said you gave her a hard time about donating to the children’s library,” Tony said, waving a crumpled and battered copy of the flier at him. “Accused her of wanting Peter to be a high school dropout.” 

“I never --” 

“No, you probably didn’t,” Tony said, “but Sunset only hears what makes a better story. You being a complete tool and her telling you off roundly makes a much better story than you pimping the fundraiser. Sorry about that, if she said anything that made you uncomfortable.” Tony shifted, looking more than a little uncomfortable himself. 

“I still don’t know who you’re referring to,” Bucky said. Tony pulled his phone out of his pocket and scrolled through his photos, turning the screen to face Bucky. Oh. That one. Right. “Okay, yeah, I remember her, but… I wasn’t rude to her, promise.” 

“I believe you,” Tony said. “Peter talks about you too much, she probably came in here looking to pick a fight. She was pretty mad when I doubted her story. ‘If you like him so much, you should just ask him out.’” 

Bucky’s heart lodged firmly in his throat. 

Carol chose that moment to walk by. “You totally should,” she said, stopping. “Jan promised to bake up one of her amazing cakes for him, if he could get a date working in --” 

“Carol Danvers, _shut up_!” Bucky said, blushing furiously. 

“Well, you don’t have much time left, Barnes,” Carol said. “Unless we get this fundraiser --” 

“Carol! Will you _please_ \--” 

Carol smirked and walked off, waving her fingers over her shoulder. Bucky was going to kill her. Or die. Dying sounded easier, at any rate. Killing Carol, then he’d have to dispose of the body and clean up the mess and get an alibi and that just sounded like way too much work. Much easier to have a heart attack and die, especially the way Tony was looking at him right that second. 

“Don’t you dare ask me out on a pity date,” Bucky said, hastily. “Carol’s just giving me shit, and I…” 

“I wasn’t going to,” Tony said. 

And… yeah, okay, that hurt worse than being asked out on a pity date, because then he could at least be scornful or something. 

“And I wasn’t going to ask you out because my ex-wife is being a complete bitch, no parts missing,” Tony went on. “I _am_ , however, going to ask you out because you’ve been my friend for the last six months, my son thinks you’re wonderful, and you have fantastic taste in books. But you know, if you’d rather not get a Van Dyne original cake, then, you know, there’s really no hope for you at all.” 

Bucky blinked. “What?” 

“The Maria Stark foundation has an annual Valentine’s ball,” Tony said. “We raise money for local causes, and I’d already decided to put my percentage toward the library, once I found out we might lose the programs that Peter loves so much. There’s no obligation, but it would be really great, and I expect the fundraising would go really well, if you were there to gladhand. And, you know, I would, actually, like to take you out.” 

“I don’t know what to say,” Bucky stammered. He was smiling so hard that his cheeks hurt. 

“‘Yes’ is a good start,” Tony suggested. 

“Yes.” 

 

**Author's Note:**

> All the books mentioned in this fic are real, are on my shelves, and are the correct cover color. Many of these little stories and situations are drawn directly from things my librarian friends have mentioned. I have an unusually high number of librarian friends. 
> 
> This fic is dedicated to my gay friend who once was a children's librarian.
> 
> Now with art from [novarain01](https://novarain01.tumblr.com/)


End file.
